Fast break
Why the Buffs lost: Illinois had more in the tank offensively, hitting 44.1% of its shots and 83.3% from the free throw line, while CU hit 41.8% and 76.9% from the line.
Three stars:
1. Illinois’ Destiny Jackson: Posted a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, as well as six assists and a steal.
2. CU’s Jade Masogayo: Closed her career with 15 points, on 7-for-11 shooting, and five rebounds.
3. Illinois’ Cearah Parchment: Scored a game-high 21 points, hitting eight of 10 shots, and pulling down five rebounds.
Up next: Colorado now looks to the offseason and building for the 2026-27 campaign.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The loss hurt, but what it meant hurt more.
On Saturday night at Memorial Gymnasium on the Vanderbilt University campus, the Colorado women’s basketball team saw its season come to a close with a 66-57 loss to Illinois in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
With that, a CU team that came together last summer and bonded like no other in head coach JR Payne’s tenure, said goodbye.
“I wish I had at least one more game to play, one more practice together,” senior Anaelle Dutat said.
Seeded 10th in the Fort Worth 1 region, the Buffs (22-12) nearly made that happen.
It was a tight game throughout the night and CU pulled within 47-46 on a Dutat layup 16 seconds into the fourth quarter.
Seventh-seeded Illinois (22-11) never gave up the lead, though, scoring four straight to bump the lead back to five and fending off every challenge by the Buffs. The Illini finally put the game away by outscoring the Buffs 8-3 in the last 96 seconds and holding CU without a field goal in the final four minutes.
Illinois will face host and No. 2-seeded Vanderbilt on Monday.
“They were a hard-guard,” CU’s Zyanna Walker said of the Illini. “They had some good players that were on tonight. We tried to be as disruptive as we could, but yeah, I would say it was hard for sure, just to stop them and get them out of their rhythm and stuff.”
Jade Masogayo had 15 points and five rebounds in the final game of her career for the Buffs, while Desiree Wooten added 17 points and seven boards.
The Buffs couldn’t contain the Illinois trio of Cearah Parchment (21 points), Berry Wallace (18 points) and Destiny Jackson (16 points, 11 rebounds and six assists), however.
CU’s inability to get a third top scorer proved to be a difference.
“Yeah I think so,” Payne said, “and then the rebounding was too close.”
One of the better rebounding teams in CU’s history, the Buffs held a 34-32 edge, but offensive rebounds were even (9-9), and Illinois outscored the Buffs on second-chance points, 8-7.
“We needed more offensive rebounds, we needed more defensive stops and we just weren’t able to get it,” Payne said. “I mean, we were trying all kinds of different things on Parchment and Wallace and it just didn’t seem like anybody could get it done.”
Despite that, CU had a shot late. But, following Dutatap layup, Jackson hit back-to-back layups to push the Illinois lead back to five, 51-46. CU trailed throughout the final 31 minutes.
“We kept getting close but not enough; and then close and then not enough, and I thought when (Jackson) hit those two back-to-back and it separated back up to five or six, I don’t think we were deflated, but it is hard to come back against such a really strong team like Illinois,” Payne said. “Itap hard to do to come back against such good teams.”
CU was a good team, too, and one that reached the tournament despite 10 new players on the 14-player roster this season. The Buffs grew close, which made the pain of Saturday’s conclusion deeper.
“Oh yeah, definitely that season’s over,” Walker said of the hurt she felt. “I mean, I didn’t want this to be my last game with this group. So yeah, it hurts, but then when you look back on it, you just think about, like, all the success and all the happy memories that we’ve had and you can just look at it with your head held high.”
Given the major roster overhaul last offseason, Payne felt it was an accomplishment to simply get to the NCAA Tournament. Yet, as the week went along, she felt good about her team’s chance to advance.
“We definitely thought we were going to win the game tonight,” Payne said. “We thought we had a good game plan, we thought our team was very well prepared. Some of the best practices of the year were this week, as far as just focus and the right type of lightheartedness, but also really locked in and focused. Just give credit to Illinois. They also probably were very locked in and, just two really good teams that I thought competed good, clean, aggressive basketball.”
For Payne, there was pride in how her team competed, not just Saturday, but throughout the year. But, more so, there was sadness in knowing this was her last time coaching this particular group.
“My biggest sentiment with this team, itap always hard when you lose your last game, but what I shared with them was that this one is harder than most because the character and the relationships and just the camaraderie of this group is almost unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my 25 years of coaching,” she said.
“Just a really, really beautiful, amazing, incredible group of young women. I’m just so blessed to have been their coach. They are blessed for the experiences that they’ve shared with each other. And itap rare. I think they know that and they felt that.”
Illinois 66, Colorado 57
COLORADO (22-12)
Walker 2-6 4-4 8, McErlane 0-0 0-0 0, Masogayo 7-11 1-1 15, Dutat 4-9 0-0 8, Betson 1-1 2-2 4, Gooden 0-0 0-0 0, Wooten 7-15 3-6 17, Crook 0-0 0-0 0, Greer 2-13 0-0 5. Totals 23-55 10-13 57.
ILLINOIS (21-11)
Guyton 1-7 0-0 2, Jackson 5-15 5-6 16, Brown-Hagger 0-2 0-0 0, Wallace 8-14 2-2 18, Parchment 8-10 3-4 21, Webber 4-11 0-0 9, Vasconcelos 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-59 10-12 66.
Colorado 18 11 15 13 – 57
Illinois 20 14 13 19 – 66
3-point goals – Colorado 1-9 (Greer 1-5, Dutat 0-2, Wooten 0-2), Illinois 4-14 (Parchment 2-3, Jackson 1-3, Webber 1-3, Guyton 0-3, Wallace 0-2). Rebounds – Colorado 34 (Wooten 7), Illinois 32 (Jackson 11). Assists – Colorado 8 (Betson 3), Illinois 10 (Jackson 6). Steals – Colorado 4 (4 players with 1), Illinois 9 (Brown-Hagger 4). Turnovers – Colorado 14, Illinois 8. Total fouls – Colorado 11, Illinois 13. Fouled out – None. Attendance – 4,111.
